


strong in the real way

by PuriPuki



Series: blessed be the boys time can't capture [4]
Category: Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
Genre: Character Study, Gen, Minor Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-25
Updated: 2016-11-25
Packaged: 2018-09-02 03:54:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,323
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8650444
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PuriPuki/pseuds/PuriPuki
Summary: Despite being separated for so long, Owain’s snores still don’t bother him. Lucina’s silent step may still frighten him, but it’s welcomed. Inigo is still a flirt with terrible coping mechanisms. He’s still a crybaby that looks like a thug.





	

He despised his lessons. Bad at chess, poor etiquette, couldn’t sing for his life, abysmal at horseback riding, and fell short in many of his academics. The violin was Brady’s saving grace. From the first squeaky note he managed to rip from the instrument, he was taken with it. Maribelle had been incredibly pleased that he’d finally found a noble pursuit he excelled in, and searched high and low for a proper tutor.

 

There is no surplus of music teachers in the apocalypse.

 

Without anyone to teach him, Brady teaches himself using what little sheet music he scavenged from the library, and sometimes would receive entire books of music from his ‘cousins’ in Ylisstol. He lives in comfort, kept safe in the Duchess of Themis’s inherited mansion, away from the chaos of the country side.

 

When he is nine and on the verge of ten, he begs and pleads with his mother to take him into the city. She doesn’t, in the end, but Maribelle supposes that her child’s determination is something to be proud of - not many would try to sneak out at night to travel what must be hundreds of miles to comfort a friend. She promises him, “At the end of the month, darling. We’ll go to Ylisstol then.”

 

When they do make it there, it is a blessing that Ricken comes along. It is thanks to his tomes that the whole family makes it to the city safely, having been attacked by Risen on the journey. Before then, Brady had never seen his mother cry, not even when she hadn’t been favored by the courts.

 

(He wants to promise her that he’ll be brave, that he’ll protect her, but he is in tears quicker than his mother. He wants to make a promise to his father, that he’ll learn magic, but seeing the arcfire burn only makes him more afraid.)

 

In the castle, he’s asked to play a piece of music for his aunts Lissa and Robin and Uncle Chrom. He struggles to tune his violin, strings jostled during the encounter with the Risen, and the E string snaps, whipping him in the face. It stings like the seven hells, but in the end he is fine - Brady might be down a quarter of his already poor eyesight now, but it isn’t going to stop him from playing.

 

One year passes without incidence, save the loss of the Exalt. For a brief time, it seems like there is hope for the nation - the Shepherds may be gone, for the most part, but Lucina is only thirteen and has already become a beacon of hope for Ylisse. It’s her who Brady and his parents are on the way to visit when it happens.

 

Arrows fly. There were bolts of lightning, arcs of fire turning trees orange. Brady thinks he sees his father’s hat be taken by the wind, unsure if it’s the gentle breeze or a violent burst of wind magic that does it. He knows his mother and father love him dearly, and perhaps that is why they scream at him to run towards the nearest village as fast as they can. 

 

He runs until his legs give out, he doesn’t even look back to see if his parents are following him. He’s exhausted and is sure that his lungs are about to collapse when a knight passes him. He can barely choke out the words,  _ my mother and father, Risen near Themis _ , can barely tell the man which direction he came from before they told him to run. 

 

He stays with another guard on duty, a young pegasus knight who smiles and keeps him company and grimaces when he isn’t looking. The knight comes back within an hour, bringing a pair of silver rings and his deepest condolences. After this, the ever growing anxiety and self doubt gnaws at him even more.

 

The pegasus knight, Jessalyn, takes him to Ylisstol, where he comes under the care of Lissa. She teaches him the way of healing, shows him how to treat magic wounds and stitch up impalements in less than three minutes. Owain and Lucina try to teach him to fight with swords, but he is soon declared a lost cause. Brady throws himself into learning all he can about the art of healing,  desperate to be useful. 

 

Lissa assures him that he is loved. He isn’t sure he believes her. 

 

Another year after losing his parents, he loses the last remnants of his family. Risen attack them, of course they do -  _ they always do.  _ Lissa was taking them to Themis, to pay respects to Maribelle and Ricken. 

 

It began with a wyvern’s shriek. The monster grabs Lissa and dangles her in the air while Owain tries to fend of the few Risen on the ground. He’s useless,  _ again _ , clutching his mother’s staff while he watches Owain’s sword swing.

 

It ends with a wyvern’s shriek. The beast drops her from several feet up in the air, her body landing with a sickening crack. He does his best to heal her, thankful he has his staff, while Owain tells her stories from his childhood in an attempt to keep her awake. 

 

It doesn’t work. By dusk, the last Shepherd is gone.

 

He helps Owain carry her back to Ylisstol. Stands at his side when they burn her on a pyre, holds his hand when her sobs at night. Brady does all the things that Owain did for him when he lost Maribelle and Ricken.

 

And they move on.

 

They recover Argent. Gules is shattered, as useless as Brady thinks himself, but they have hope. Four out of five ain’t too bad, right?

 

Owain is ecstatic to have the chance to see his family again, but… Brady wants to stay. There are people here who depend on him, they need taking care of, and he’s the only one who can do that. 

 

That same night, they become the last 12 people alive. He cries through most of the attack, especially when he can’t do anything to save a little girl - Annalise - who had loved his exaggerated stories about Owain’s adventures, and loved when he played the violin for her. She dies in his arms. He outright sobs when he discovers that Owain blames himself for her death.

 

In the end, they all go. There’s nothing here for him now, what’s the point in staying if all he wanted to protect was gone?

 

He lands in Valm. The northeastern tip, a lush farmland inhabited by sages and long retired mercenaries. He fits in well, treats those who are injured and plays violin for the elders and tells stories to the children. It’s good there, but it’s nowhere near as relieving when his mother shows up, young and prim and  _ alive _ .

 

Brady gets to know his parents all over again. He gets to know what they were like before the war, before the apocalypse came, before he was born. It’s weird having to look down at his father. Weirder still to see his mother without laughter lines and an ever furrowed brow. It’s good.

 

The same night his mother finds him, he’s welcomed by the few who have already been found; Lucina, Owain, and Inigo. It’s so  _ weird _ not having all twelve of them there, but Lucina assures him that they’ll find the rest of their family soon enough. They swap stories about what they’ve been doing since landing in the past, how well they were treated by their adoptive villages. Brady is quickly added back into their nightly routine of sleeping in shifts and sharing tents. Despite being separated for so long, Owain’s snores still don’t bother him. Lucina’s silent step may still frighten him, but it’s welcomed. Inigo is still a flirt with terrible coping mechanisms. He’s still a crybaby that looks like a thug. 

  
With his family at his side again, he is sure of one thing - he’ll be okay.


End file.
